Not feeling 100% when I woke up on Wednesday morning meant that I spent the morning at home though by lunchtime I decided I should attempt to get out somewhere with Willow Warbler the likeliest year-tick to be found. With high tide between 1600 and 1700 my travelling time had to be relatively short if I wanted to have a chance at any unusual waders passing through. That meant a choice between Broughty Ferry, Guardbridge or Riverside Nature Park. The fact that the schools are on holiday ruled out the first and last option so I decided to head for Guardbridge to spend a few hours in the hide. Hopefully, I would get Willow Warbler singing in the trees on the way in, as I have done in previous years.
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| Oystercatcher |
It was shortly after 1300 when I made it out the house to head for the bus stop to catch a bus into town and from there to the bus station. With luck I should reach Guardbridge by around 1345. Herring Gull, Carrion Crow and Feral Pigeon were all I had to show for the trip into town, though the late running bus to Fife did result in adding a few more species, with a few Oystercatchers, Woodpigeons, Rooks, Jackdaws, a male Pheasant, and some Lesser Black Backed Gulls all being seen in and around the roadside fields.
There were no singing Willow Warblers as I walked along the path to the hide, just the chirping of Tree Sparrows and a few Blue Tit contact calls. Inside the hide were a Fife couple I've met several times here and we chatted away. With a scope available they had a bit better reach than my binoculars and a possible Osprey on one of the posts out on the river was confirmed by a few quick photos showing the characteristic pose and the brown and white plumage despite the heat haze over the 1.5 miles distance to the posts. I scanned around picking up more species - Shelducks, a Swallow or two, Redshanks, a Buzzard in the conifers, a drake Red Breasted Merganser, a single Black Headed Gull among the Herring and Lesser Black Backeds. There were plenty of Black Tailed Godwits bunched up together, with lots of them already showing lots of orange breeding plumage on their fronts.
A single Curlew, a number of Dunlin, even more Knot, some distant Oystercatchers, as well as Mallards, Teal and Wigeon and a couple of Cormorants were all noted. We were joined in the hide by another visitor, Liz from the Dundee Naturalists, and she joined in the conversation as all four of us scanned for birds. Blue Tits and Tree Sparrows visited the feeders, along with the odd Woodpigeon. A single Greenshank was spotted across the river with the Redshanks, and a Common Gull settled alongside the other gulls after circling around first.
With the tide coming in rather quickly, the amount of mud was diminishing rapidly and there was some movement of waders as the water reached their bellies. There was panic in a mixed flock out in front of the hide resulting in most of the flock splashing down into the river. I knew it had to have been as a result of a raptor attack but none of us had managed to see the culprit. It turned out to be a Sparrowhawk which was regaining height a little further away. Once the tide had washed over the last of the mud I was left in the hide on my own as the others headed off elsewhere, while I contemplated where to try next, before I was joined by another two lady birders.
Lots more conversation ensued despite the majority of birds being quite distant, though I did find a group of Eider near the base, and a Great Black Backed Gull which landed among the other gulls already on the water. A Grey Wagtail flew past as we chatted, while Greenfinch and Chaffinch visited the feeders along with a pair of Collared Doves. A Goldfinch overflew. The two ladies decided to head for Morton Lochs and I decided I would explore the Guardbridge - Kincaple path in the hope of finding a Willow Warbler in the wooded area where the small burn flows downhill. As I was packing up I was surprised to spot a single male Gadwall drake on the river, not a bird that shows up here very often.
I added Blackbird and Starling to the list as I headed for the gate onto Main Street to walk the short distance down to the roadbridge. A Wren was in the brambles by the bridge and a pair of Oystercatchers were on one of the old bridge supports with a pair of Herring Gulls 'next door'. The trees were rather quiet down by the river, though ahead of me I could see there were lots of Pink Footed Geese in the fields to the south of the river. A drake Goosander flew over and I tried to get closer to the geese to allow me to scan through the flock and also hopefully shoot some video of the species. There were a few gunshots ringing out from somewhere upriver and the geese proved to be rather unsettled, resulting in most of the closer birds moving to the next field over.
I decided to head up towards the hill. A pair of Long Tailed Tits foraged in the bushes by the track allowing me decent views from just a few feet away. A few Chaffinches were all I had to show for the walk up the hill and the small fishing pool was completely bird-free with orange mesh strung across it to make things difficult for any bird contemplating a meal. After a quick check of the fields for Yellowhammer and Grey Partridge, neither of which were found I headed back down the hill. Another Wren and a Dunnock were seen by the burn, and the Long Tailed Tits showed well again in the same place. A Pied Wagtail flew past.
Once I reached the river again I was able to see that a large number of the 1000+ Pink Footed Geese had settled again in the nearest field. I stopped to scan through them, almost immediately finding a single Barnacle Goose among them. This was a rather welcome stroke of luck, as my earlier Barnacle Goose sighting was slightly "suspect", with the bird in question being suspected as having been originally an escape from Fife Animal Park next door to Birnie Loch where the bird and its Greylag partner, and their hybrid offspring seem to spend a large chink of the year. I had Barnacle Goose on my year-list but the provenance was 'iffy' and I wasn't completely comfortable about its inclusion, though I knew I would get a 'legitimate' Barnacle Goose eventually. I expected to have to wait until the Solway Firth wintering birds passed through in late September/early October so I was glad to get one much earlier.
I shot a few video clips before wandering back to the roadside to wait for the bus back to Dundee. I did add House Sparrow to the list while I waited but as the bus was rather busy I was unable to add anything extra to the reasonable number of 48 species I'd managed to see during the afternoon. Photo opportunities had been in short supply, especially good ones, but I did manage to get enough variety to illustrate this blog post.
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| Osprey |
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| Redshank, Dunlin & Knot |
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| Greenshank & Redshank |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Common Gull |
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| Redshank, Knot & Dunlin |
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| Redshank |
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| Redshank |
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| Cormorant |
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| Buzzard |
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| Gadwall |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Goosander |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Barnacle Goose & Pink Footed Geese |
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| Barnacle Goose & Pink Footed Geese |
Species seen - Barnacle Goose, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
EXTRA: For those who are regular, and especially long term readers of this blog, just a quick few words to say that I received confirmation that the record of the Red Flanked Bluetail I stumbled on in Denburn Wood, Crail last October has been accepted by the Rarities Committee. The story of that particular day can be found here....
http://stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/lightning-strikes-twice-51016.html
